This weekend brings opportunities on Orcas to meet our newly elected municipal leaders. The Sheriff's Office is hosting Coffee with a Cop on Saturday at Tide Pool on North Beach Road from 10-Noon. Sheriff Eric Peter will be there with a few additional deputies to meet...

This week is the Annual Point in Time Count (PIT) for Washington State. The goal is to count the number of folks living in substandard housing (meaning without access to plumbing, heating, and/ or other utilities), in vehicles, or outdoors altogether. The past two...

When I first started at OICF, I met with Bob Henigson. Bob had read about the Dolly Parton Imagination Library — a program that mails a book a month to children from birth to five years old. He wanted to see if that was possible to launch on Orcas. We looked into the...

  Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to reflect, renew, and recommit. I was a young child when Dr. King was murdered. We lived in Washington, D.C. I remember being so completely shocked and so saddened that someone would commit such a horrible act and...

Indian Island in the winter   2023 is off and running. High winds and high tides continue to keep us on our toes and our flashlights and candles on hand, just in case.  OICF continues negotiations in pursuit of the purchase of the Lavender Farm Property. We...

Crescent Beach crosses the road due to wind and the king tide   Happy (almost) New Year! The end of the year is always an exciting time at the Orcas Island Community Foundation and this year it is even more so. On top of all the year-end grants and contributions...

Improvisation when the power goes out   This week brought WEATHER to Orcas. A foot of snow, temperatures in the teens and below, a north wind that created massive drifts, and then a power outage to top it all off, making last night feel very much like the longest...

Gathering Berries   What a wild week this has been! The GiveOrcas Holiday Campaign is on fire! We had the busiest Ben Franklin Day ever, raising $49,418 through 313 donations. CRAZY! We ended up with Recovery Rides and Orcas Senior Center in First Place with 35...

The Flat Person Family!   Food Bank Director Amanda Sparks is the 2022 GiveOrcas Flat Person, serving as the ambassador for the GiveOrcas Holiday Campaign. Welcome to the family, Amanda! 17 people guessed she was the one, and Tom Eversole won the $500 prize,...

This week brought the news that Sam Coleman had died after a brief illness. He was home in Pasadena surrounded by Cynthia and their children. Sam was an OICF Board Member for several years. He also served on the Orcas Center Board. But his true love was music, and he...